Editing Israeli settlement (section)

== Legal status ==
{{Main|International law and Israeli settlements}}
[[File:Gilocrossing.jpg|thumb|[[Gilo]], East Jerusalem]]
[[File:PisgatzeevS.jpg|thumb|[[Pisgat Ze'ev]], East Jerusalem]]
[[File:Katzrinlibrary.jpg|thumb|[[Katzrin]], Golan Heights]]

The [[International Court of Justice]] delivered a landmark advisory opinion in July 2024 that Israel's occupation of West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip was illegal, that Israel had "an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers" from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and that Israel should "make reparation for the damage caused to all" the people of such lands.<ref name=Hail>{{cite news |title=Palestinians Hail ICJ Ruling, Condemnation In Israel |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/palestinians-hail-icj-ruling-condemnation-in-israel-7f58dabe |access-date=20 July 2024 |work=[[Barron's]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |date=19 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Berg |first1=Raffi |title=UN top court says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo |access-date=20 July 2024 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=19 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jacob |first1=Sarah |title=Israel's Palestinian Territories Occupation Unlawful: UN Court |url=https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/company-news/2024/07/19/israels-palestinian-territories-occupation-unlawful-un-court/ |access-date=20 July 2024 |work=[[BNN Bloomberg]] |date=19 July 2024}}</ref>

The consensus view<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/31/israel-must-withdraw-settlers-icc Israel must withdraw all settlers or face ICC, says UN report (The Guardian, 31 January 2013)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801213035/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/31/israel-must-withdraw-settlers-icc |date=1 August 2020 }} "Israel (...) was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which forbids the transfer of civilian populations to occupied territory (...) The UNHRC report broadly restated international consensus on the illegality of Israeli settlements"</ref> in the [[international community]] is that the existence of Israeli settlements in the [[West Bank]] including [[East Jerusalem]] and the [[Golan Heights]] is in violation of international law.<ref name="bbc-2009-12-09">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8404850.stm|title=Jewish settlers in West Bank building curb protest|date=9 December 2009|publisher=BBC|access-date=12 December 2009|archive-date=13 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213074726/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8404850.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Fourth Geneva Convention]] includes statements such as "the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".<ref>[http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/380-600056 GC4 Part III : Status and treatment of protected persons #Section III : Occupied territories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416122535/https://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebART/380-600056 |date=16 April 2016 }} "the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" International Committee of the Red Cross.</ref> On 20 December 2019, [[International Criminal Court]] chief prosecutor [[Fatou Bensouda]] announced an [[International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine]] into alleged war crimes committed during the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]].<ref name=ToI>{{cite news |last1=Ahren |first1=Raphael |title=The Hague vs. Israel: Everything you need to know about the ICC Palestine probe |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-hague-vs-israel-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-icc-palestine-probe/ |access-date=10 July 2020 |work=[[Times of Israel]] |date=23 December 2019 |archive-date=19 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619091152/https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-hague-vs-israel-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-icc-palestine-probe/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At present, the view of the [[international community]], as reflected in numerous UN resolutions, regards the building and existence of Israeli settlements in the [[West Bank]], [[East Jerusalem]] and the [[Golan Heights]] as a violation of international law.<ref name=Playfair1992>{{cite book|editor=Emma Playfair |title=International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1992|location=USA|page=396|isbn=978-0-19-825297-9
}}</ref><ref name=Albin2001>{{cite book|author=Cecilia Albin|title=Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2001|location=Cambridge|page=150|isbn=978-0-521-79725-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2DG8tFHtQAC&pg=PA150}}</ref><ref name=Gibney1999>{{cite book|author=Mark Gibney|author2=Stanlislaw Frankowski|title=Judicial Protection of Human Rights: Myth or Reality?|publisher=Praeger/Greenwood|year=1999|location=Westport, CT|page=72|isbn=978-0-275-96011-7}}</ref> [[UN Security Council Resolution 446]] refers to the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]] as the applicable international legal instrument, and calls upon Israel to desist from transferring its own population into the territories or changing their demographic makeup. The reconvened Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions has declared the settlements illegal<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/5FLDPJ| title = Point 12 icrc.org| date = 3 October 2013| access-date = 14 December 2010| archive-date = 28 February 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070228014958/http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/5FLDPJ| url-status = live}}</ref> as has the primary judicial organ of the UN, the [[International Court of Justice]].<ref name="icj-cij.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706021237/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf|title=paragraphs 95–101 and 120|archive-date=6 July 2010}}</ref>

The position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are entirely legal and consistent with international law.<ref name="Mahler2004">{{cite book|author=Gregory S. Mahler|title=Politics and government in Israel: the maturation of a modern state|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkqYGYVLs_4C&pg=PA314|year=2004|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-1611-3|page=314}}</ref> In practice, Israel does not accept that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies ''[[de jure]]'', but has stated that on humanitarian issues it will govern itself ''de facto'' by its provisions, without specifying which these are.<ref name="Gerson, Allan 1978, p. 82">Gerson, Allan. ''Israel, the West Bank, and International law'', Routledge, 28 September 1978, {{ISBN|978-0-7146-3091-5}}, p. 82.</ref><ref name="Roberts, Adam 1988 pp. 345-359">Roberts, Adam, "Decline of Illusions: The Status of the Israeli-Occupied Territories over 21 Years" in ''International Affairs'' (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944–), Vol. 64, No. 3. (Summer, 1988), pp. 345–359., p. 350</ref> The scholar and jurist [[Eugene V. Rostow|Eugene Rostow]]<ref>[[Eugene V. Rostow|Rostow, Eugene V.]], [[The New Republic]] 23 April 1990 ''The Historical Approach to the Issue of the Legality of Jewish Settlement Activity''</ref> has disputed the illegality of authorized settlements.

Under Israeli law, West Bank settlements must meet specific criteria to be legal.<ref name="Ofran, Etkes">Peace Now, [[Hagit Ofran]] and Dror Etkes, [http://peacenow.org.il/eng/sites/default/files/Jurisdiction2007.pdf ''"And Thou Shalt Spread ..." Construction and development of settlements beyond the official limits of jurisdiction''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113221410/http://peacenow.org.il/eng/sites/default/files/Jurisdiction2007.pdf |date=13 January 2013 }}; pp. 3–5. June 2007</ref> In 2009, there were approximately 100<ref name="bbc-25November2009" /> small communities that did not meet these criteria and are referred to as [[Israeli outpost#Illegal outposts|illegal outposts]].<ref name="autogenerated1" /><ref name="fmep.org">[http://www.fmep.org/documents/opinion_OLA_DOS4-21-78.html fmep.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200123/http://www.fmep.org/documents/opinion_OLA_DOS4-21-78.html |date=27 September 2007 }}. Retrieved 13 May 2007.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.btselem.org/Download/20051104_Modiin_Ilit_Letter_Eng.pdf|title=7|access-date=10 September 2009|archive-date=24 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100224005025/http://www.btselem.org/Download/20051104_Modiin_Ilit_Letter_Eng.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2014 twelve EU countries warned businesses against involving themselves in the settlements. According to the warnings, economic activities relating to the settlements involve legal and economic risks stemming from the fact that the settlements are built on occupied land not recognized as Israel's.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2014/06/28/la-france-durcit-sa-position-face-a-la-colonisation-israelienne_4447341_3218.html|title=La France durcit sa position face à la colonisation israélienne|first=Hélène|last=Sallon|date=28 June 2014|access-date=28 July 2016|via=Le Monde|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|archive-date=28 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828080036/http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2014/06/28/la-france-durcit-sa-position-face-a-la-colonisation-israelienne_4447341_3218.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://euobserver.com/foreign/124873|title=EU states promote settler boycott amid Israel crisis|date=4 July 2014|access-date=28 July 2016|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307022154/https://euobserver.com/foreign/124873|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Illegality arguments ===
The consensus of the international community – the vast majority of states, the overwhelming majority of legal experts, the International Court of Justice and the UN – is that settlements are in violation of international law.<ref name="Waxman" >'The charge that Israeli settlements violate international law is widely accepted in the international community. The UN, the ICJ, almost every state in the world, and the vast majority of legal experts all consider Israeli settlements to be illegal and, in fact, a war crime according to the Fourth Geneva Convention (specifically article 49, paragraph 6). The Israeli government and a small number of legal experts dispute this, arguing that the Geneva Convention is not applicable to the West Bank because Israel is not an occupying power there (since the territory had no legitimate sovereign and that, even if the Geneva Convention does apply, it only prohibits forcible population transfers (like the mass deportations..)'. [[Dov Waxman]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wTCPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA179 ''The Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know,''] [[Oxford University Press]], 2019, {{isbn|978-0-190-62534-4}}, p. 179.</ref><ref name=ic>*{{cite journal|title=Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967|last=Roberts|first=Adam|author-link=Adam Roberts (scholar)|journal=The American Journal of International Law|volume=84|issue=1|publisher=American Society of International Law|pages=85–86|quote=The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law. General Assembly resolutions have condemned the deportations since 1969, and have done so by overwhelming majorities in recent years. Likewise, they have consistently deplored the establishment of settlements, and have done so by overwhelming majorities throughout the period (since the end of 1976) of the rapid expansion in their numbers. The Security Council has also been critical of deportations and settlements; and other bodies have viewed them as an obstacle to peace, and illegal under international law.|doi=10.2307/2203016|jstor=2203016|year=1990|s2cid=145514740}}
*{{cite book|title=The Italian Yearbook of International Law|volume=14|year=2005|editor1-last=Conforti|editor1-first=Benedetto|editor2-last=Bravo|editor2-first=Luigi|first=Marco|last=Pertile|chapter='Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=978-90-04-15027-0|page=141|quote=the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars.}}
*{{cite journal|journal=International Journal of Constitutional Law|title=Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=4|last=Barak-Erez|first=Daphne|author-link=Daphne Barak Erez|year=2006|page=548|quote=The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation.|issue=3|doi=10.1093/icon/mol021|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite book|chapter=Self-determination and population transfer|last=Drew|first=Catriona|title=Human rights, self-determination and political change in the occupied Palestinian Territories|volume=52|series=International studies in human rights|editor-last=Bowen|editor-first=Stephen|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|year=1997|isbn=978-90-411-0502-8|pages=151–152|quote=It can thus clearly be concluded that the transfer of Israeli settlers into the occupied territories violates not only the laws of belligerent occupation but the Palestinian right of self-determination under international law. The question remains, however, whether this is of any practical value. In other words, given the view of the international community that the Israeli settlements are illegal under the law if belligerent occupation...}}
*{{cite web|title=The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories|author=International Labour Organization|year=2005|url=http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc93/pdf/rep-i-ax.pdf|page=14|quote=The international community considers Israeli settlements within the occupied territories illegal and in breach of, inter alia, United Nations Security Council resolution 465 of 1 March 1980 calling on Israel "to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem".|author-link=International Labour Organization|access-date=8 January 2012|archive-date=16 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616221959/http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc93/pdf/rep-i-ax.pdf|url-status=live}}
*Civilian and military presence as strategies of territorial control: The Arab-Israel conflict, David Newman, Political Geography Quarterly Volume 8, Issue 3, July 1989, Pages 215–227</ref>
After the Six-Day War, in 1967, [[Theodor Meron]], legal counsel to the [[Israeli Foreign Ministry]] stated in a legal opinion to the Prime Minister,

<blockquote>"My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."<ref>[[Gershom Gorenberg|Gorenberg, Gershom]]. "The Accidental Empire". New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2006. p. 99.</ref></blockquote>

This legal opinion was sent to Prime Minister [[Levi Eshkol]]. However, it was not made public at the time. The Labor cabinet allowed settlements despite the warning. This paved the way for future settlement growth. In 2007, Meron stated that "I believe that I would have given the same opinion today."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/secret-memo-shows-israel-knew-six-day-war-was-illegal-450410.html|title=Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal|website=[[The Independent]]|access-date=1 September 2017|archive-date=11 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611213726/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/secret-memo-shows-israel-knew-six-day-war-was-illegal-450410.html}}</ref>

In 1978, the [[Legal Adviser of the Department of State]] of the United States reached the same conclusion.<ref name="autogenerated1">"Letter of the State Department Legal Advisor, Mr. Herbert J. Hansell, Concerning the Legality of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories", cited in ''[http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,4565c22541,459bab0b2,3b00f4404,0.html Progress report—The human rights dimensions of population transfer including the implantation of settler] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015185514/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,4565c22541,459bab0b2,3b00f4404,0.html |date=15 October 2012 }}'' prepared by Mr. Awn Shawhat Al-Khasawneh.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmep.org/reports/special-reports/a-guide-to-israeli-settlements-in-the-occupied-territories/the-carter-administration-view-settlements-are-inconsistent-with-international-law |title=The Carter Administration View: "Settlements are Inconsistent with International Law" |access-date=17 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413031650/http://www.fmep.org/reports/special-reports/a-guide-to-israeli-settlements-in-the-occupied-territories/the-carter-administration-view-settlements-are-inconsistent-with-international-law |archive-date=13 April 2009 }}</ref>

The International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion, has since ruled that Israel is in breach of international law by establishing settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The Court maintains that Israel cannot rely on its right of self-defense or necessity to impose a regime that violates international law. The Court also ruled that Israel violates basic human rights by impeding liberty of movement and the inhabitants' right to work, health, education and an adequate standard of living.<ref>"Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory", para 120, 134, and 142 {{cite web |url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf |title=Cour internationale de Justice – International Court of Justice |access-date=2010-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706021237/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2010}} and PAUL J. I. M. DE WAART (2005) International Court of Justice Firmly Walled in the Law of Power in the Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process. Leiden Journal of International Law, 18, pp 467–487, {{doi|10.1017/S0922156505002839}}</ref>

International intergovernmental organizations such as the Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]],<ref>Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention: Declaration, GENEVA, 5 December 2001 [https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/8FC4F064B9BE5BAD85256C1400722951] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211112456/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/8FC4F064B9BE5BAD85256C1400722951|date=11 December 2014}}</ref> major organs of the [[United Nations]],<ref>See UN General Assembly resolution 39/146, 14 December 1984; UN Security Council Resolution 446, 22 March 1979; and International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, 9 July 2004, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, para 120</ref> the [[European Union]], and [[Canada]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Canadian Policy on Key Issues in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict| work=GAC |url=http://www.international.gc.ca/name-anmo/peace_process-processus_paix/canadian_policy-politique_canadienne.aspx?lang=eng|publisher=[[Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade]]|access-date=16 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218143423/http://www.international.gc.ca/name-anmo/peace_process-processus_paix/canadian_policy-politique_canadienne.aspx?lang=eng|archive-date=18 February 2018}}</ref> also regard the settlements as a violation of international law. The [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination#Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination|Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination]] wrote that "The status of the settlements was clearly inconsistent with Article 3 of the Convention, which, as noted in the Committee's General Recommendation XIX, prohibited all forms of racial segregation in all countries. There is a consensus among publicists that the prohibition of racial discrimination, irrespective of territories, is an imperative norm of international law."<ref>See CERD/C/SR.1250, 9 March 1998</ref> [[Amnesty International]], and [[Human Rights Watch]] have also characterized the settlements as a violation of international law.

In late January 2013 a report drafted by three justices, presided over by [[Christine Chanet]], and issued by the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] declared that Jewish settlements constituted a creeping annexation based on multiple violations of the [[Geneva Conventions]] and international law, and stated that if [[Palestine]] ratified the [[States parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court|Rome Accord]], Israel could be tried for "gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of [[international humanitarian law]]." A spokesman for Israel's [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Foreign Ministry]] declared the report 'unfortunate' and accused the UN's [[Human Rights Council]] of a "systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel."<ref>Nick Cumming-Bruce, [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/world/middleeast/un-panel-says-israeli-settlement-policy-violates-law.html?hp 'U.N. Panel Says Israeli Settlement Policy Violates Law,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313030001/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/world/middleeast/un-panel-says-israeli-settlement-policy-violates-law.html?hp |date=13 March 2017 }} at ''[[The New York Times]]'', 31 January 2013</ref>

The [[Supreme Court of Israel]], with a variety of different justices sitting, has repeatedly stated that Israel's presence in the West Bank is in violation of international law.<ref>Tomer Zarchin, [http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/legal-expert-if-israel-isn-t-occupying-west-bank-it-must-give-up-land-held-by-idf-1.449909 If Israel is not occupying the West Bank it must give up land held by the IDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709144128/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/legal-expert-if-israel-isn-t-occupying-west-bank-it-must-give-up-land-held-by-idf-1.449909 |date=9 July 2012 }} at [[Haaretz]], 9 July 2012: 'For 45 years, different compositions of the High Court of Justice stated again and again that Israel's presence in the West Bank violates international law, which is clearly opposed to Levy's findings.'</ref>

=== Legality arguments ===
Four prominent jurists cited the concept of the "sovereignty vacuum" in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War to describe the legal status of the West Bank and Gaza:<ref>Howard Grief, ''The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel Under International Law,'' Mazo Publishers, p. 662. cf. p. 191.</ref> [[Yehuda Zvi Blum]] in 1968,<ref>''The Missing Reversioner: Reflections on the Status of Judea and Samaria,'' in Israel Law Review,3 1968 pp. 279–301.</ref> [[Elihu Lauterpacht]] in 1968,<ref>''Jerusalem and the Holy Places,'' Anglo-Israel Association, London 1968.</ref> [[Julius Stone]] in 1969<ref>Julius Stone,''No Peace-No War in the Middle East,'' Maitland Publications, Sydney 1969.</ref> and 1981,<ref>Julius Stone, ''Israel and Palestine:Assault on the Law of Nations,'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1981.</ref> and [[Stephen M. Schwebel]] in 1970.<ref>Stephen M. Schwebel, ''What Weight to Conquest'', in [[American Journal of International Law]], vol.64, 1970 pp. 344–347.</ref> [[Eugene V. Rostow]] also argued in 1979 that the occupied territories' legal status was undetermined.<ref>''Palestinian Self-Determination: Possible Futures for the Unallocated Territories of the Palestine Mandate,'' Yale Studies in World Public Order, 147 (1978–1979) vol.5 1978 pp. 147–172.</ref>
*[[Stephen M. Schwebel]]<ref name="Schwebel">{{cite book|title=Justice in International Law: Selected Writings (What Weight to Conquest?)|pages=[https://archive.org/details/justiceininterna0000schw/page/521 521–526]|author=Stephen M. Schwebel|author-link=Stephen M. Schwebel|isbn=978-0-521-46284-6|year=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|url=https://archive.org/details/justiceininterna0000schw/page/521}}</ref> made three distinctions specific to the Israeli situation to claim that the territories were seized in self-defense and that Israel has more title to them than the previous holders.
*[[Julius Stone]] also wrote that "Israel's presence in all these areas pending negotiation of new borders is entirely lawful, since Israel entered them lawfully in self-defense."<ref name="stone">{{cite book|title=Israel and Palestine: Assault on the Law of Nations|author=Julius Stone|isbn=978-0-9751073-0-0|page=52|year=1982|publisher=Dashing|author-link=Julius Stone}}</ref> He argued that it would be an "irony bordering on the absurd" to read Article 49(6) as meaning that the State of Israel was obliged to ensure (by force if necessary) that areas with a millennial association with Jewish life shall be forever ''"[[Judenfrei|judenrein]]"''.<ref>[http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-illegal-settlements-myth/ Illegal-Settlements Myth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127225831/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-illegal-settlements-myth/ |date=27 January 2012 }}, ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'' magazine</ref>
Professor Ben Saul took exception to this view, arguing that Article 49(6) can be read to include voluntary or assisted transfers, as indeed it was in the advisory opinion of the [[International Court of Justice]] which had expressed this interpretation in the [[Israeli West Bank barrier|Israeli Wall Advisory Opinion (2003)]].<ref>Ben Saul, Director, Sydney Centre for International Law, Faculty of Law, The University of Sydney, [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1485056## ''Julius Stone and the Question of Palestine in International Law'' p. 11. Retrieved 23 December 2011]</ref>

Israel maintains that a temporary use of land and buildings for various purposes is permissible under a plea of military necessity and that the settlements fulfilled security needs.<ref name=":0">Kretzmer, David ''The occupation of justice: the Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories,'' SUNY Press, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-5337-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-5337-7}}, page 83</ref> Israel argues that its settlement policy is consistent with international law, including the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]], while recognising that some settlements have been constructed illegally on private land.<ref name="Harel">{{cite news|last=Harel|first=Amos|title=Settlements grow on Arab land, despite promises made to U.S.|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/settlements-grow-on-arab-land-despite-promises-made-to-u-s-1.203258|work=Haaretz 24 October 2006|publisher=Haaretz|access-date=14 September 2010|date=24 October 2006|archive-date=22 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522073205/http://www.haaretz.com/news/settlements-grow-on-arab-land-despite-promises-made-to-u-s-1.203258|url-status=live}}</ref> The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the power of the Civil Administration and the Military Commander in the occupied territories is limited by the entrenched customary rules of public international law as codified in the Hague Regulations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kretzmer|first=David|title=The occupation of justice: the Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories|year=2002|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5337-7|page=87|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Thjg-0dut0C&pg=PA87}}</ref><ref>{{Cite SSRN |title=Israel Chapter for Book Entitled 'The Role of Domestic Courts in Treaty Enforcement: A Comparative Study'|first=David|last=Kretzmer|date=27 October 2008|ssrn=1290714}}</ref><ref>*Helmreich, Jeffrey. [http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief2-16.htm Diplomatic and Legal Aspects of the Settlement Issue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614213710/http://jcpa.org/brief/brief2-16.htm |date=14 June 2006 }}, Jerusalem Issue Brief, [[Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs]], Vol. 2, No. 16, 19 January 2003.
*[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/2/DISPUTED+TERRITORIES-+Forgotten+Facts+About+the+We.htm Disputed territories – Forgotten facts about the West Bank and Gaza strip] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402122906/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/2/DISPUTED+TERRITORIES-+Forgotten+Facts+About+the+We.htm |date=2 April 2010 }}, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 February 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2008.</ref> In 1998 the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs produced "The International Criminal Court Background Paper".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/1990_1999/1998/7/the%20international%20criminal%20court%20-%20background%20pape| title = 30 July 1998, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs produced "The International Criminal Court Background Paper" Retrieved 13 May 2007| access-date = 4 September 2010| archive-date = 24 May 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110524025919/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfaarchive/1990_1999/1998/7/the%20international%20criminal%20court%20-%20background%20pape| url-status = live}}</ref> It concludes<blockquote>International law has long recognised that there are crimes of such severity they should be considered "international crimes." Such crimes have been established in treaties such as the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions... The following are Israel's primary issues of concern [i.e. with the rules of the ICC]: The inclusion of settlement activity as a "war crime" is a cynical attempt to abuse the Court for political ends. The implication that the transfer of civilian population to occupied territories can be classified as a crime equal in gravity to attacks on civilian population centres or mass murder is preposterous and has no basis in international law.</blockquote>

A UN conference was held in Rome in 1998, where Israel was one of seven countries to vote against the Rome Statute to establish the [[International Criminal Court]]. Israel was opposed to a provision that included as a war crime the transfer of civilian populations into territory the government occupies.<ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/warcrimes/icc1.html| title = The International Criminal Court (CBC News (Canada), 9 July 2004)| access-date = 30 October 2011| archive-date = 29 July 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110729192227/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/warcrimes/icc1.html| url-status = live}}</ref> Israel has signed the statute, but not ratified the treaty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/6/Israel%20and%20the%20International%20Criminal%20Court|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516021101/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/6/Israel%20and%20the%20International%20Criminal%20Court|title=Israel and the International Criminal Court (Office of the Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), June 2002)|archive-date=16 May 2007}}</ref>